'I don't understand what all this fuss over J. Krishnamurti is about'

I fully appreciate your objective and factual analysis of the IMF (December 15). The stringent conditions attached to the loan which favour big business are obviously at variance with our socialist economic thinking. The heavy debt servicing burden of Rs 500 crore every year is likely to become a debt-trap, as has happened in other Third World countries.

The Government should use only the first instalment of the loan so that the IMF does not seize control of the economy.KotaSushim Banerjee

Glad to see India Today has discussed the IMF loan threadbare. The "Ten Commandments" clearly - and wittily - summed up the humiliating riders attached to this unnecessary and harmful deal. The economic policies of the present Government are ruinous whether one takes the macro-view of sectors and industries or the micro-view from the grassroots, ordinary citizen's level. On every bus or truck we read the legend Be Indian. Buy Indian'. Well, now it's clear that our own leaders are selling their country and who are the buyers' I Ask Washington!Ahmedabad Sunita Ghai

Russian Propaganda

The most interesting feature of the expose "From Russia With Love" (December 15) is that the USSR uses a country it claims to have friendly relations with as its scapegoat. With the steady deluge of Russian propaganda material which is highly inferior to that of other advanced countries, do our "friends" now hope to make their presence felt in the highly competitive world market which is ruled mainly by Japan and the US?

Another interesting point is your own answer to the above question which was so suggestively hinted at in the same issue in the form an advertisement of Japanese stereo tape recorders which appeared only a few pages after the exposure!JamshedpurPartho Choudhury

Correction

In the Economic Forecast (December 15). the growth in bank credit was incorrect owing to a typographical error. As the charts showed, total credit growth last year was 24 per cent while credit to the commercial sector grew by 18.6 per cent.- Editor

A Rajiv Campaign

The basic question that arises from the all too obvious Sell Rajiv Gandhi campaign ("Coming of Age". December 15) is whether or not we really have a right to call our social system a democracy. I wonder how far Mr Gandhi would have succeeded without the much-needed aid from the Government media, besides the Central and state Government machinery. A day rarely passes by without one hearing on the radio or television. Surely in 'ordinary' MP cannot hog the headlines daily! Delhi Asjeet Lamba

Smugglers' Paradise

In the cover story "Smugglers' Paradise" (November 30), the wooden decks in the photograph clearly indicate that it has been clicked aboard on one of the following three passenger ships - 'Noorjehan'. "Akbar' or 'Dwarka' which are engaged between Bombay and the Gulf ports. The caption should have read '...returnees at Bombay port' and not "... returnees at Bombay airport.'BombayA.K.Midha

Enlightened Mystic

The title "The Incorrigible Idealist" (November 30) was misleading. Like all enlightened mystics. J. Krishnamurti is a realist and not an idealist. He has no ideology of his own, nor does he propagate any ideals which according to him "inevitably lead to hypocrisy and a dishonest, confused life."Secunderabad Jaya Chohan

I don't understand what all this fuss over J. Krishnamurti is about. To western listeners he may be having something to say which could be considered worthwhile. What he says is nothing new for India. His philosophy is a part of very ancient Indian thinking.PuneA. Syed

A Call To Disarm

David Selbourne made a detailed analysis of the growing discontent in the European countries at the irresponsible nuclear policies of the superpowers ("A Call To Disarm". November 30). All peace-loving citizens all over the world will look upon this new phenomenon as a positive departure from the dispassionate and callous attitude of the people of Europe which had previously earned them the status of puppets in the hands of the superpowers. The European disarmament movement has a better prospect than the 'non-aligned' movement of the Third World as the former takes in its fold the countries which occupy a better bargaining position in strategic terms, while the latter consists of countries that are disorganised and less determined in combating the superpower hegemony.CalcuttaPinaki Chakraborty

Unjust Survey

The Karnataka Survey (November 15) by Bhabani Sen Gupta hardly does justice to the state. The report, product of a visitor from outside, has so many palpable errors perhaps excusable in a report on another country but not on a part of our own. His 'extended tour' seems to have been confined mainly to Bangalore, a good part of it on reading R.K. Narayan's and Dom Moraes' books. Stupid statements like "Kannadigas are a lazy lot", "Moped girls of Bangalore are non-Kannadigas", and that "the Kannadiga woman is pretty and not beautiful" are insulting generalisations. I wonder if he knows of the women of Coorg, of South Kanara, even Adivasis of Gokarn, not to mention the Vokkaligas of Malnad. It really will make sense, if you intend to continue with these state-wide surveys, to use in future perceptive people who have claims to knowledge on the culture, tradition and also the language of the state. Otherwise you get gaffes galore like female courtesans termed "Suleyars", 'Mooru Darigalu' termed waves of the sea!BangaloreM. Bhaktavatsala

The bond is emotional

Sumit Mitra has called me a Bangladeshi journalist in his review of my book Who Killed Mujib (November 15). Having worked tor many years in Dacca and identified with die Bangladesh liberation movement, I have strong emotional links with Bangladesh. But I am not and never was a Bangladeshi. I am an Indian.Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)A.L. Khatib

Noisy Voices

May I suggest renaming your feature 'Voices' as 'Noises'. Who cares whether Padmini Kolhapure keeps her virginity or not? Or for that matter what Jennifer Kapoor thinks of Shashi Kapoor's acting. Or for that matter even Amitabh Bachchan trying to rationalise "stupid" acting in Hindi films. (Yes! Mr Bachchan. You are paid lakhs of rupees not just for nothing).

If you do have to retain the same name for the said feature, Let us have enlightened voices please.BarodaDr N. Subrahmanyam

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